To Learn

I’ve been recently making more of an effort to stay active and work out consistently, and while being on the treadmill I usually prefer to listen to audio books or podcasts. In the past few weeks I’ve been catching up with the Modern Learners episodes, enjoying their topics about changes in education and, in one of those, Will Richardson said something that clicked with me, he said that the main problem he saw in change and education these days was that teachers seemed to prefer to do the wrong thing right rather than trying to do the right thing.

I am sure that many can relate to that statement, even if it makes us uncomfortable, because in this field, even if we owe our efforts to our students, many of the things we dare doing are dictated by a something or someone above us. And even if we have the most supportive and willing administration, we sometimes nest in those practices we get really good at and feel are “good enough”.

I’ve been there, more than a few times: basic teaching strategies, classroom management moves that don’t do so well, mostly structures and expectations that I held on for way too long just because “I had always done it that way.” I was one of those teachers who would use a color code behavior system in the classroom, I honestly didn’t know better back then.

It took me a while to embrace more of a fearless and humble perspective, one that reminded me that learning is part of my job and made it okay to show my failures and areas where I could use a fresh vision. I also learned to separate myself from my practice, to tame my ego while I listened to other educators share different and perhaps more appropriate approaches.

Working along side international educators has helped me change my mindset, because I think it’s a waste to not take advantage of the diverse range of experiences others can offer. My teaching today is not the same as last year, or three years ago, or how I taught back in Venezuela, I have forced myself to improve my craft and will continue to do so each year.

Today, I am happy to say that even though it is still intimidating to admit that something isn’t working out, I have gotten better at honoring the resources available to me and the courage it takes to try and learn something new.  I also have always believed that I have no business teaching others if I don’t see myself as a learner.